Changes in Latitude

We’re back on Orion after 17 months. She has been sitting in the Port Charlotte Boat Storage yard waiting patiently in the scorching heat and pounding rains while various hurricanes blow by

I came back first by myself.Back to 2 weeks of solid prep. Of 85 humid Florida degrees, sweat stinking shirts, crawling, bending, breathing toxic fumes of paint and varnish. Multiple trips to West Marine, to Home Depot, to visit mom in Sarasota. To finally ride the travel lift and splash her back home. Sails on and ready to roll. Only to find that the alternator was not putting out. Another day of laying on a burning hot engine rewiring and crossing fingers. And then with great joy the engine started and showed 13.2 volts. Yes, charging! Buddy Scott in for this maiden voyage. Out the canal, sails up and headed down Charlotte Harbor. And finally to rest at Pelican Bay. Beautiful old time Florida.

Headed under the Tampa Bay Skyway bridge

Now the actual boat life can begin. Was wondering a little why I do this as I was sweating and spending in the boatyard. But it’s coming back. The beautiful sunset on the water. The adventures in the dinghy. The ease of movement through the water when the sails are full and the wind is right. The books. The naps. The music. The time. The peace.

It’s been a full and kind of crazy year and a half. The biggest part dictated by Rebecca the ex slowly dying of stomach cancer. Even though I only talked to her a few times in the entire course of events, she occupied my mind and affected the people that I love continually.

Then there has been the whole focus on the politics of our world right now. What a fucked up mess. AndI was completely pulled back into the daily Trump. The outrage. The horror. The addiction of the morning news.

Much time was also spent driving Ethan up and down the hill. At some point he moved in with me full time, and was without a car. Fairview High School at 7 was a common occurrence. But honestly I consider the year driving him a rare treat. When do you get to hang out with your 17 year old son for an hour or more a day and have great conversations about music, philosophy, life. Not sad to stop the driving. But the connecting I will miss.

View out the bathroom window.

Music, tons of music. Deeper into the bass I go. Playing with Egg Puppy, Shrimp Burrito, Leela Kirtan, All Together Now, Reverend Freakchild, Dave’s Slaves.

And helpful to look at time in chunks. What just happened starting here, ending there. And then noticing the different speeds at which time moves by. And balanced by the different things that happened in that space of time. After trips I tend to check in with brother Ben, and part of the conversation inevitably goes to, “Nothing much happened here at home. Another week or two of work, or basically the same old same old”. Compared to the days going traveling, hiking, camping, with a new adventure around every corner

As I hit 60 this year I want to be able to do more of the adventure and less of the mundane. These days when another year passes I feel older, more tired, and I’m starting to feel the big slow down coming. It didn’t used to be that way. I remember when my mom was my age. She was 60 and starting a new life with Laurie. I see her slowing way down now at 91 and it doesn’t seem all that far away. I feel like I’ve got a window that won’t be open for too long. Kids are up and out. And it won’t be that many years before the energy ebbs.

So what I want to do now is live as fully as possible. Travel, explore, love, play. I’ve never been one for a regular lifestyle at any rate. But there is an urgency to push the envelope and get out there. My way has mostly been just to do it, and somehow the money will find it’s way. Sometimes that works. It’s the way I know for sure.

So for now the vehicle is Orion. The path is to explore together with my sweet Elia. Have adventures while we can. And as we get a little more ready to slow down embrace that energy as well. I’m psyched.. Let’s go sailing…

This part of the journey is coming to a close. We made it back to America. Into Miami, down to Key West, then up to Port Charlotte to hang with my mom for a few before putting Orion on the hard for the hurricane season. I sit writing this on my last morning before heading back home. Elia left a few days ago to be with her people in Oregon before meeting me back in Colorado. And I’m actually ready to go. It definitely helps to have 95 degree days sitting on gravel with 1 zillion bugs attacking as the sun sets to help spur me on.

Many adventures since the last blog post. Nighttime crossing of the Great Bahama Banks and the Gulf Stream into Coconut Grove went by easily enough. Down the keys to Key West. Lots of sailing, lots of miles. I just did the math and it looks like we have gone close to 5000 miles in the last year. Chesapeake bay up to Maine, back down to Hampton Virginia. 11 days offshore to the Virgin Islands. South to Dominica. Turn around and all the way back through the Virgins, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, The Keys, and finally to Port Charlotte. Holy shit. All at around 6 knots. Lots of time to sit and think, and be.

Miami By Bike

But now thinking of the go back. Life on land from the relaxed cruiser perspective. Gotten very good at easy mellow days of guitars and books and writing and boat projects. The stresses of this life are much less overwhelming than those in “reality”. They are present, but somehow they are more real, more pure. If the engine stops running you have to figure out how to fix it. If the wind isn’t blowing from the right direction you stay put and get into where you are. In hindsight the places we ended up staying and getting to know the best were because we were waiting there for a weather window. St. Martin pulled us in, twice. Antiqua, much longer than we planned originally. The south coast of Puerto Rico. Georgetown, Bahamas. Les Saints. All of which we got “stuck” in, and got to know so much better because of it.

So the take away is how to bring the relax back to the real world. How to stay calm in the face of the storm. How to make the most out of a “bad situation”. So much of life becomes the patterns and habits that we have made and the groves that we dig for ourselves. This winter on Orion has had it’s own tone and mood. It will be interesting to see how that energy gets taken home. Home of old grooves well worn. I can already feel the tug to hook back in. Read the news every morning. Get into the general worked up state that seems to have so overtaken america. Beware brother, beware.

Friggin Hot Dude!

All in all this year has been a dream year that only came about in the thinnest window possible. There were so many things that could have derailed it, and many that had to line up to make it happen. I feel incredibly fortunate that it all worked out. The universe has a funny way of supporting ones dreams. This one really came from a head down determination to pull it off, even if it didn’t make sense on a lot of levels. There is something in there about learning when it is time to be the captain, make the decision that you feel is best, and throw off the docklines, or stay and weather the storm. It could be a lonely place out there, but in my world I’ve had my first mate along on the whole ride. Elia rocks!

And in this time I’ve come to truly appreciate and trust Orion. What a great boat. I’ve learned so incredibly much about how to keep her happy, and what she will do for me if I do. So much of this lifestyle is tied into ones boat. It’s a home that you need to depend on to keep the rain away, but in a very real way, for survival. And then you want her to look good, to feel good, to start when you turn the key, every time. To keep your food cold, your bed dry, and mostly to keep that good strong divider between us and the deep blue sea.

So yes, this year on the boat is coming to a close. But I don’t feel in any way that the adventure is over. Orion sits patiently, waiting for the next splash into the sea to signal the next chapter. Both Elia and I have tuned into what works, what doesn’t and have an idea of how to live a life balanced with time on land and time on the water. I’m hearing the call already. Perhaps next go round it’s to Cuba we will go? Stay tuned…

In our house April Fools Day is the holies of all high holidays. Each year it gets harder and harder to sneak it up on the kids. They are ready, prepared, perhaps with an attack of their own.

There was the time we were coming back from a Florida on the night of March 31st. I remember sitting on the plane planning the strategy. We got in after midnite. The sacred day was upon us, but luckily they were too sleepy to realize it. We picked up the car from the airport and on the drive back to Boulder there was a strange hesitation with the engine, sort of a jerking motion. I grew more concerned and let them know that it wasn’t running right. We started heading up the canyon, and the jerking got worse. Hopefully we make it home. It was cold, snowy, at 3am, and wasn’t looking good. Just as we pulled in to head up Magnolia it died, and wouldn’t start. What to do. The best idea that I could come up with was for them to get all dressed up, and stand outside hitchhiking while I put the headlights on them as the next car came by. The coats and gloves were on, they were headed out, April Fools.

The tricky part now is how to get them when they are not close by. Last year I wrote a long email to young Malcolm in New Zealand talking about my boating plans and how it was looking like the best option available was to pick a sailboat in Australia, and wondering if he might be willing to sail it back for me. He reported back that he was reading it aloud to some friends and got more and more excited until he got to the line at the end saying that maybe he should look over at the calendar and see what day it is. Got cha. First email back he was ticked, then the respect grew.

Last year Ethan knew it was coming but wasn’t sure from what direction it would arrive. I woke him up at 1:30 am to take his morning shower. It was dark like usual, and he stumbled in to get ready for school. I heard the water running and hovered around the corner. He came out of the bathroom, and I just started laughing. Score another one for dad.

They do retaliate. There is the stamp taped on to the bottom of the computer mouse. Why won’t it work? The saran wrap across the toilet seat. Slowly they are maturing.

All of this to say that the recent post about Elia and I buying an island perhaps needs to be understood from the background of the fool. The hints were there. Come back on April 1st of next year to see how it all plays out. I hope this wasn’t a foolish move. But word came back of true excitement and admiration for our bold new move. Ah well, not this year folks.

At this point we are in the Bahamas, heading back towards Florida. Lots of long sails behind us, a few ahead. Switches in the brain are slowly being turned back on to Colorado time and reality. Trying to plan the next phase. Not sure how work will look.

Do I sell my snow business and start something else? What will have changed internally to bring to the game. Thinking it would be fun to play bass in an old guy band. Play the rock and roll but no gigs after 9.

Then there is the changed world of Mr Carrot top in charge. How to plug in to the ridiculousness of that. Looking forward to the drive up Magnolia, and back to the old homestead. What will be the same, what different. These are the thoughts that fill a portion of the brain as the miles drift by under the keel.

There are changes afoot. Elia and I have been on Vieques, hiking a lot, talking to local people and starting to fall in love with the place. We began to wonder if there was a way to stay here longer, or find a way to come back.

It kind of started out as a whim. Let’s just wander around the island and see if anything catches our eye. We talked to some local people to get a sense of the place. We met with a real estate agent mostly to just get a free tour of the island. As we drove around she showed us houses and lots with million dollar views and everything was quite out of our reach.

We had given up on the idea of buying a place and stopped in at a little bar in Esperanza to get out of the sun and get something to drink. I mentioned to the bartender that we had been looking at properties, and he threw out, seemingly as a joke, “well I have an island you can buy”. Yeah, right!. We got to talking and he actually did. His name was Ramon and he said that it had been owned by his grandfather, but that he had recently passed The island had been left to him, but he didn’t know what to do with it. He said that it was “kind of rustic” and hadn’t had loved in a while, but had lots of potential for the right person”.

He could take us out there the next morning and give us the tour. We met him at 9 on the rickety little dock and got into his old fishing skiff. He gunned the engine and we were off, out of the bay, through some mangroves and north for about 8 miles. As we came around a bend he pointed and there it was.

It had a little beach where we could pull the boat up. There was a small run down house with some palm trees. As we went around the back and up the hill we found some plantation ruins, and some boards hanging off the trees. What was this place we wondered. What had it been?

It seemed that his grandfather had worked as a slave on the plantation cutting sugar cane, and that he had grown up in one of the little shacks. Some rich Dane had come in the early 60’s and tried to make a commune with people living in treehouses. When hurricane Enrique came in 77 it blew down most of the treehouses and toppled a tree onto the main house where the Danish man and his island bride were living, killing both of them. After everyone else had left the grandfather stayed on, and since there were no other claims on the land it became his.

The man said that his grandfather had told him a story that the first plantation owner, Mr. Partridge had tied one of the slaves to a tree and left him there to be eaten by fire ants. Ever since then the land, and especially the trees had been cursed. Local people were frightened to go out there, and nobody seemed to be interested in buying it.

This was getting more and more interesting.

We went to a local bar to discuss and try to get onto the internet to see if we could find out any more information. It was very hard to come to any real conclusions, but it started to seem like maybe it could be worked out somehow. The Vieques government is a protectorate of the US so some of the legal issues are fairly strait forward. The owner seemed to like us, and want us to have the land so he said he could carry a note for 10 years which would stretch us, but seemed doable.

If we could put in some time and effort to rebuild the main house, then rebuild some of the tree houses perhaps we could make it into an eco tourist type of destination. Elia feels sure that she can lift the curse off of the land.

We are now in a legal quagmire of looking at zoning, talking to lawyers, administrators, government officials. But as of just yesterday it’s looking like it’s a go. Give us a year or so to pull it together, but hopefully on April 1 of 2018 we will have built our shangri la. Hopefully this is not a foolish move on our part.

Everywhere we go there are other sailors. Very rarely are we on our own. These are our people, the cruising community. Who are they?

In general cruisers are people thathave been able to carve out a chunk of time away from the responsibilities of land and have made the effort to figure out how to live on their sailboat. They are all into sailing, and just by having made it this far into the Caribbean, have proven that both they and their boat are at least adequate for the task.

Most are couples and in many cases the men were the driving force behind the decision to take off. Perhaps they had been sailing forever, it was their dream, and many of the women have come around to either loving it, or tolerating it. There is always some talk of the men doing the long passages, and the women flying down to meet them there. The guys get together and talk about solar panels and power loads. The women cooking, and books they’ve been reading. Many guys call their partner, “The Admiral”, i.e. if you ask them on the VHF about plans for the day they say they will check with The Admiral, and let you know.

Some are in their 50’s, most in their 60’s, with a very few on either side of that. They are quite varied in their pasts, and their plans. Some have been on the water for years and are ready to head home. These are more jaded, with less of the the enthusiastic glow, and a little slower to jump into the conversations about how many amps your battery bank holds. There are newbies, quite wide eyed and open. There are a few single handers out there, almost always men. They are an interesting lot, with crusty beards, a slightly crazed look and an endless need to talk. So far everybody we have met has been white.

People take to the lifestyle in different ways. Some have become quite sedentary and rarely leave their boat. Others embrace exploring land whenever possible and go on long hikes. At times people rent cars, hire taxi’s, or ride busses. Many of these choices seem to be determined by how much money is available, but also by peoples levels of comfort. One woman told Elia that she would never consider riding on the local buses. We, on the other hand, choose that whenever possible, as much for the local experience as for the transportation.

There is lots of alcohol involved. The standard greeting is delivered by dinghy in the afternoon, come on over for drinks around 5:30. Painkillers, sundowners, black and tans, rum punches. Island drinks. As would be expected the conversations get sloppier and more animated as the evening progresses. From my non drinking perspective it all gets a little old and tiresome.

Cathy and her crew

There are dogs, cats, even a bird on board. We’ve heard tell of a monkey but haven’t seen it. The dog owners tend to be slaves to their pets. They modify their plans around which countries can take them easily, which beaches are safe. In most countries they need to have a vet sign off that it is healthy. Fears of going ashore and having their dog attacked by local dogs, or possibly shot, because they haven’t checked in are real. The cats curl up safely in a cubby below, except for the rare marina stop when they saunter down the docks.

One of the joys in this lifestyle is the ability to move on whenever you want to, or stay as long as things are good. Everybody is moving, transient. You get used to lots of goodbyes, then often unexpected friends turn up in another anchorage. We are all on a similar groove, with a limited number of places that cruisers tend to stop. Many people will be seen again, but you never know who or where.

The Oyster

The boats vary like the people. One of the big differences is the amount of money spent to pull off this dream. There are many that cost well over a million dollars new. They tend to be shiny, larger, newer, with more gadgets. The people on them, come from backgrounds that generated large sums of money. Investment banker, sold their business, sold their house in Nantucket. Women wearing nice jewelry, white polo shirts, gleaming teeth with a real estate smile. The Oyster, Hylas, Outbound, Halsberg Ralsey. Truly beautiful blue water boats.

Cantana Catamaran

There are the catamarans either bought as high level sailing machines, or bought from the charter industry, that needed some TLC (read MONEY) to get them in cruising shape. Much more room than a monohull, don’t roll in the anchorage, great for entertaining, and gives a feeling like a condo on the water with sliding glass doors and a large back deck. and lots of space for guests. Fast, but expensive to own with 2 engines, and much more cost to haul out and to dock.

Many smaller solid monohulls made to cruise around the world. These tend to be funkier, older, the people a little crustier and willing to have more of a camping experience. As the people on the less expensive boats tend to tell each other, when talking about the larger, shinier ones, “We all have the same view”.

And what are our plans? As I write this we are in Les Saintes, just south of Guadaloupe.Our turn around point was last week in Dominica. We are headed back. But back means2 and a half months of slowly working our way to the left coast of Florida where we will leave her for the summer and a good portion of the fall. Back to Colorado to make a garden, to invite a cat into our lives, to hang out with Ethan while he gets back into high school in America. (Check out his blog on tumblr at Under_Brazilian_Skies if you get a chance)

And our future on Orion? Still to be determined. I kind of like mustached Mike’s version. 4 months on the boat, 8 months on land. Or then again does it make more sense to do 6 weeks on, with a big space between. Right now going around the world and living on her full time doesn’t look like the plan. But then, who really knows. We would love to go to Europe, sail around Britain, up to Norway, the canals of France, the Med. There is the western side of the Caribbean with Belize, and down to Panama. Cuba is opening up to sailors. And then a whole world in the Pacific. So many places to see, and nice to feel like we have the illusion of unlimited time. Our plans remain flexible.

How did I get so lucky? It started with the dance. There she was, standing all alone. I eased up close, touching softly, slowly moving together. Faster it became, more playful, more energized, turning more into the lion dance, with the Leo’s inside both of us finding someone to wrestle, to hold, to play with. All so very natural and easy.

We are sailing now. A life much different than our dance in Boulder. What has made this part of the journey so wonderful for me is my sweet Elia. She brings a humor and goofiness into every daythat makes our little Orion such a happy place. We laugh and play constantly. Who knew it could all be so much fun?

The banjo comes out and starting with G, we jam. It started with Cripple Creek, over, and over. Then added Boil That Cabbage Down with a slight twist to the G. Branching out now to Miss Ohio, to Ripple, to singing, and growing. So shy at first, playing stronger now.

We make up stories about ladies in restaurants, about other people on boats. Who are the wife swappers we wonder? And then the questions about what does this mean, what are we doing with our lives, where will we go next, how do we want out lives to look when we got back to land.

I’m her little play thing. Her French man to dress up in my green linen shirt. Wouldn’t I look good in that bathing suit, those le saints underwear. She will get fixated on me, my body, my beard, my cute little face. I preen, and she laughs. She keeps telling me I’m the cutest thing ever. In my wetsuit, my pink bathing suit. She doesn’t want a skinny mini, wants something substantial to hold on to. I got that covered. Stroke, stroke, stroke.

She cooks us dinner, she makes me lunch. Great spreads of Garbanzo beans, tacos, green drinks in the mornings with the bullet blender she found on line. I always love it, that’s the deal. We watch inspector Lewis at night with his sidekick Hathaway. Silly British crime shows gets her going.

She gets in the water and swims much longer than I do, entranced by the fish and the coral. A turtle rises and she calls out to it. Porpoises surface and the 5 year old dances with glee on the deck

She has a frock addiction. Before Elia I didn’t know what a frock was. Now we go by the shops and I find there are frocks everywhere, and they are all “so cute”. Many are reluctantly passed by. Some make it into her drawers back on Orion.

Every week she conscientiously does her work from the boat, writing her articles. Always on time, quite responsible in the midst of our loose lifestyle. I read her my blog posts, and she listens and gives insights and feedback.

We sail, and she embraces her role as the one and only first mate. Coiling lines, getting the outboard onto the dinghy, snagging the mooring line, driving back on the anchor. We have developed our roles and our jobs. She secures the forward hatch, me the back. When someone else comes onboard it’s much easier to ask them to just step aside than to help. We have this down.

She writes, and it’s beautiful. So introspective and pure. I admire and envy her ease with the written words. Her mind is so clear as she remembers, when we read about the snorkeling spots to hit, or which restaurants have the best baguettes.

Has taken to rowing the dinghy. First try in Annapolis we went around in circles giggling. Now she takes over when the engine won’t start and gets us back home. Talks about developing her one tiny claw. Over to a boat in the evening with some friends. Eyes sparkle and come alive, laughing, engaging. Beautiful in the morning asleep, Full of her emotions of happy, sad, introspective, questioning, not hidden behind a mask for long.

She tells me we are clairaudient. She’s speaking what I’m thinking and vice versa on a very regular basis. I am feeling more like the women who live together that share their cycles. I too can rise and fall with the moon.

And we sail off into the sunset together. Or maybe just to Florida. This boating future still seems uncertain, but what I’m sure of is that I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.

The contrast between two versions of Antigua is profound. Falmouth on the southern coast is the resting ground for super yachts. As you come into the harbor they are nestled side by side, stern to like so many dominoes. Beautiful, shiny, mammoth. And here, not focused as much on the powerboat, but on the mega sailing yachts. Gorgeous J boats from the 40’s. Immaculate and gigantic.

The Maltese Falcon

A whole economy buzzing to keep them looking sharp. Lots of yachty types from England, France, Italy. All very well heeled, and used to being surrounded by luxury, and the finer things in llife. Living on the boats, or in the nice gated community up the hill with the view overlooking the bay. Expats running the restaurants and bars, most of the customers white, All quite clean, people nice, happy, living a good life all based on the tourist/boating community.

There are two ways to get to the other side of the island. Take a taxi for $25, or a local bus for about $1.50. Elia, Ed and I hopped onto a bus from Jolly Harbor into the biggest city, St. John. The sense of adventure starts with the bus itself, which is actually just a small red minivan, crammed with as many seats as could fit. Once all the available seats are full there are drop down benches that fill the isles. We are packed in with older ladies in uniforms heading home from work, kids in matching cloths getting out of school, sweaty t shirted men headed to town, all locals, we are the only white people there.

Through the gates of the marina, past the security corner, and into a different world. At home we dream of tiny houses on trailers as a pc correct, cute alternative to the sprawl. Here they are everywhere. Cute, run down little houses, many with the faded bright colors of the Caribbean, some past saving from the last hurricane. Concrete roads with cars stalled or stopped randomly. Kids playing cricket in red and yellow team shirts.The bus careens around with a toot of the horn for pedestrians or cars heading our way. An endless game of chicken, that our driver wasn’t about to lose.

English Harbor Yachts

Into the city. Fast moving, scurrying, humanity, and once again, we are the only white people to be seen. Fancy dressed women with towering hair buns of orange. Teens off the bus, out of school. A few rastas, some scary looking, sullen guys hovering by outdoor bars. Sidewalks crumbling, next to mini canals, for rainwater. Shops carrying whatever seemed to be on sale on the boat from China last week, with a srange assortment of plastic goods and bright shirts, kitchen supplies, and discount shampoos. Everyone moving quickly down the skinny streets, walking half on sidewalks, taking their chances with the next car coming through. No street signs, stop signs. People just know where to go, know the rules.

Dropped from the bus stop at the edge of town, to walk downtown where the cruise ships dock and it all tidies up. Yogurt shops, and a Burger King, in the same older buildings but with a new coat of paint. Some days up to 5 cruise ships in town at once we heard. No cruise ships in now so all the duty free shops are empty and cavernous.

St John an absolutely different world from the harbors with the pretty boats. Much poorer, and almost all black. People sweet, kind, helpful to us and to each other. Lovely cadence to their speech which was English and incredibly hard to understand, but with another version that they could switch to when they wanted to communicate with us.

Our Guide George

And as I compare the two parts of the island I can’t help but wonder how it all seems to the local Antiguan who is providing the services that make it all happen. From my perspective it feels like the different tourist groups are hugely significant. Us cruising on Orion, anchoring out to save money, trying to do it on the cheap feels like another level than the guys on their Hylas 54, with their 450 gallon fuel tank and their 100 gallon an hour water maker. And then another level to the mega yachts with the crews running it all. Then there is the cruise ship traveler. I have categorized them according to my reality, my values. But to a local my guess would be that they look out and see Orion and see just another white guy with money.

Some places in the world I have felt very excluded by the local population. Here, not at all. The local people have been very friendly, warm, respectful, helpful. The super nice kid helping us with groceries telling us about his girlfriend that left him, and his daughter that he doesn’t get to see enough and about the time he spent in Los Angeles. The old man in the gas station smiling wide and taking about sailing in Penobscot Bay in Maine, and sharing stories of lobster pots, tides, and fog. I am from a different world, but they seem to be ok with that.

Probably these are the questions that come up in any tourist town, with the poor locals providing services to the wealthy transients. Here I guess it’s just that the chasm is so very very wide in places. Is it so wide that it is beyond comprehension? I know that I look at the mega yachts, and am blown away by the absurdity of them. I don’t feel like I want to own one. I’m happy in my life, my version of paradise. Perhaps that is how it is to be from here. Is that really what they are feeling inside? I don’t know how I’ll ever really know.